Foundations & other grants

Individual donors:

We appreciate the many individual donors who make it possible for FORGE to provide many of the not-otherwise funded programs available to transgender individuals, SOFFAs, service providers and other professionals.

Partnerships

FORGE would not be able to carry out our work without the help of many partnering organizations. We are grateful for the many people and organizations we have the privilege of working with. The following are just some of these outstanding organizations and committees…

National

FORGE was the first national and first transgender-specific member of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, a coalition of more than 40 organizations serving LGBT victims of violence.

National LGBT Aging Roundtable (national)

FORGE’s Transgender Aging Network (TAN) is an active member of the National LGBT Aging Roundtable, which holds monthly teleconferences and annual in-person meetings to identify and work toward achieving policy changes that could improve the quality of life for LGBT older adults. The Roundtable also sponsors an annual Aging Intensive at the Creating Change conference (http://www.creatingchange.org/) TAN also “caucuses” with Midwest LGBT aging organizations to share best practices and identify and pursue opportunities to change policies or practices to better serve LGBT older adults.

FORGE is part of the National LGBT Policy Roundtable, which meets in person and by phone to: strengthen relationships between national LGBT organizations leaders; brief LGBT organization leaders on policy issues of common concern; strategize about pending challenges to the LGBT movement and mechanisms for response; and generate collaborative efforts among national LGBT organizations and associations.

FORGE’s Transgender Aging Network (TAN) is honored to be one of SAGE’s 10 partners in the groundbreaking, federally-funded National Resource Center on LGBT Aging (the “Center”). TAN is one of the “training partners,” empowered to present any of four, 4-hour workshops. Two of the workshops are for LGBT organizations wishing to improve their services and programming for older adults, and two are for the aging network, to help it better serve its LGBT constituents. (If you’re interested in sponsoring one or more of these trainings, contact FORGE.) We also assist the Center in developing its resource and reference materials, including those aimed at helping LGBT individuals plan for their future aging and long-term care needs. To find out more or to sign up for regular email updates on Center activities, go to http://www.lgbtagingcenter.org/.

FORGE is a member of the New Beginnings Initiative, an unprecedented collaboration of LGBT and allied organizations that have joined together to identify and press for pro-LGBT public policy changes the Obama administration can implement directly through federal agencies, without requiring Congressional approval.

Regional / Local

Community Health Workers Committee (Milwaukee)

This collaboration is developing a new cadre of health workers, trained to do health prevention and health navigation work in a variety of Milwaukee communities and populations.

FORGE Executive Director michael munson serves on the LGBT Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Advisory Committee of a federally-funded project sponsored by Diverse & Resilient to increase recognition of the high incidence of IPV with LGBT communities and increase the capacity of LGBT and mainstream partners to address IPV as a critical health issues within LGBT populations. The project is developing a website with mental health resources available to LGBT individuals and couples; increasing the capacity of LGBT organizations, groups and individual leaders to respond to IPV within LGBT communities; and working with mainstream IPV providers to increase their ability to provide culturally-competent IPV services to LGBT people.

FORGE provides a transgender voice and expertise to the community advisory board of this large Milwaukee health care provider.

Homicide Review Team (Milwaukee)

Milwaukee has a nearly unique community-based homicide review team that helps identify measures the community can take to reduce the number of homicides. FORGE provides a transgender voice and expertise where useful.

Milwaukee’s PrideFest is a huge, outdoor, 3-day event held every year at the Summerfest Festival Grounds in early June. FORGE proudly co-sponsors PrideFest’s Health and Wellness Section. This growing effort offers free booth space and publicity to LGBT organizations that agree to sponsor interactive activities designed to increase participants’ awareness of healthy behaviors. It’s a creative, fun way to let our LGBT community know that it matters to us that they be healthy enough to stick around for a long while to come. The Health and Wellness Committee meets monthly (roughly) from January through June.

SHEBA members were integrally involved in the Community Cares program that FORGE initiated after the death of Milwaukee transwoman (and SHEBA member) Chanel Larkin. We’re using this base to build further FORGE-SHEBA collaborations.

Budding Partnerships

These are our partners-in-waiting. Each has partnered with us on at least one large pending funding proposal.

This Web site is funded, in-part, through grants from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice and Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this Web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).